Chinese Mythology Atlas
The Ink Archive
Chinese mythology reference
Explore figures, creatures, and stories through classical texts, religious traditions, local worship, fiction, and modern adaptation. Heaven, the Shan Hai Jing, and Diyu are finding routes, not three sealed universes recognized by every historical source.
Heaven helps locate high deities and offices; the Shan Hai Jing route returns beings to chapters and places; Diyu compares officials, judgment, and salvation. These routes overlap, and their relationships change across periods, texts, and regions.
In folk and fictional stories the Jade Emperor is often the supreme commander of Heaven; within the Daoist pantheon he must still be separated from the Three Pure Ones, the Sovereigns, the Thunder Bureau and the star lodges. A deity's standing in worship may differ from the job assigned to that figure in a novel.
The Shan Hai Jing gathers mountains and rivers, lands beyond the seas, beasts, gods and sacrificial notes. This section follows its eighteen books across the Mountain, Sea and Great-Wilderness classics, then places the nine-tailed fox, the phoenix, Yinglong, Kui and the spinning turtle back at their original passages.
Different sources combine death, escort, judgment, punishment, and rebirth in different ways. Ten Kings belief, Daoist underworld officials, city-god stories, and fictional episodes belong in labeled sources and traditions, not one fixed itinerary shared by every tradition.
For a fast route into the site, begin with the beginner's guide to see how creation myths, Heaven, Shan Hai Jing, Diyu and folk pantheons are separated by source. Then move into the figure articles for identity, office, legends and source analysis.
Chinese mythology is not a simple family tree. Pangu, Nüwa, the Jade Emperor, the Four Dragon Kings and the Ten Kings of Hell can all appear on one whole-domain map, but their sources must be separated first: creation myth, celestial office, Shan Hai beasts, four-sea water courts, underworld officials or vernacular fiction.
The Jade Emperor, often called Yudi or Tiangong, is the most visible supreme administrative ruler in Heaven narratives. The article separates his honorific titles, divine rank, relation to the Four or Six Sovereigns, cultivation legends, Tiangong worship, novel portrayals and common misunderstandings.
The same divine name may appear in classical texts, Daoist pantheons, folk belief, fiction and modern adaptation. This site marks the source tradition first, then explains identity, office, story and relations so different versions are not merged into one vague answer.
Texts such as the Shan Hai Jing, Huainanzi, Soushen Ji and Taiping Guangji are recorded with chapter, keywords and context. When a passage can be located, the site does not simply say "an old book records it."
Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods are treated as fiction layers. They matter greatly, but they cannot replace earlier myths or religious systems.
Daoist deities, Ten Kings belief, City God worship and local legends are kept in context whenever possible. Regional differences are not rewritten as one nationwide version.
Games, animation, film and television enter only the modern-adaptation layer for comparison, not as primary sources. Their value is to show how images change, not to overwrite earlier sources.
Chinese mythology themes
Heaven, the Shan Hai Jing, and Diyu are three finding routes. Folk gods, Chinese Buddhist traditions, strange tales, vernacular novels, festival lore, and modern adaptations offer other angles. Identify the source before comparing figures, texts, or local practices.
Read the long guide: Chinese Mythology, a Chinese Mythology Tour